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If the law permits this execution to go forward in spite of the horrific final minutes that Irick may well experience, then we have stopped being a civilised nation and accepted barbarism

Sonia Sotomayor

Mr Irick was convicted in 1986 for the death of Paula Dyer in Knoxville, and had been a boarder in the home where Paula lived with her family.

The execution proceeded on Thursday after the US Supreme Court denied Mr Irick’s request to stay.

Mr Irick’s lawyers argued that he had suffered from psychosis for his whole life, and that putting him to death would breach US laws barring the execution of individuals suffering from severe mental disorders.

The decision drew sharp criticism from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who raised concern surrounding the methods of capital punishment used in Tennessee.

Mr Irick's execution took place at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville (Image: TN.GOV)

In a damning statement, she said: “In refusing to grant Irick a stay, the Court today turns a blind eye to a proven likelihood that the State of Tennessee is on the verge of inflicting several minutes of torturous pain on an inmate in its custody.

"If the law permits this execution to go forward in spite of the horrific final minutes that Irick may well experience, then we have stopped being a civilised nation and accepted barbarism."

Tennessee has been embroiled in legal challenges from inmates on death row since 2009, who have challenged the state’s combination of lethal drugs and death chamber protocols.

Lawyers acting on behalf of death row inmates have challenged the use of a combination of drugs including Midazolam as a sedative, potassium chloride to stop the heart, and vecuronium bromide as a muscle-relaxer.

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“And it may do so just as the paralysis sets in, too late for him to alert bystanders that his execution has gone horribly, if predictably wrong.”

Prosecutors in Tennessee have nevertheless stated that Mr Irick knew what he was doing at the time of his attack, was competent to be executed, and did not properly raise the mental illness claim in the state court.